So I feel strongly about this.

I may or may not have eaten some cookie dough while waiting for my turkey burger to cook. It may have been only a few bites, or it may have been enough to make me slightly panicky with guilt. I admit to nothing, but it was really yummy.

So I’m still sick, although I ran a mile yesterday. It was a slow mile, but it was a mile nonetheless. I bookended it with power snatches, so it wasn’t just a mile. I could hear myself wheezing, on account of this blasted cold, but soon my ears stuffed up again and all was blissfully silent. This particular cold is so exhausting, but I suppose I should go to CrossFit this afternoon. I’m tired of sitting around wrapped in a blanket with a big, fat, grey dog sleeping on my feet. (On them! Why?) Jack’s not fat, really. He’s just big-boned.

I’ve been dying to say something about Michelle Obama’s crusade against childhood obesity and her comment that she put her kids on a diet, because they were becoming “overweight.” I understand her desire to set a good example, but is humiliating your daughters internationally really necessary? First of all, the last thing kids need to be doing is dieting, unless they are severely overweight. I doubt the Obama kids were obese. Maybe they just didn’t look as good as Michelle thinks she does in couture. Perhaps they were aesthetically unpleasant, ruining the perfect First Family image she works so hard at, but I never heard Laura Bush commenting on Jenna’s or Barbara’s weight. The feeling I got from Laura was that she viewed her kids as more than political props. Michelle’s comments were gauche and lacking class, but that’s not exactly surprising.

I simply love it when parents foist their own dysfunctions on their children, guaranteeing a lifetime of self-consciousness and poor self-image. It’s one thing to be careful about what your child eats–you are setting their eating habits for the rest of  their life, and that’s something to take seriously–but it’s a completely different animal to tell the world that your child was getting fat enough that it warranted a diet. And besides, it’s been proven time and again that “diets” don’t work, that educating kids and empowering them to make healthy choices is the only lasting way to ensure a lifetime of healthy eating. Kids don’t need the guilt associated with food that a lot of common diets seem to incorporate. And caloric intake is only half the equation. You’ve got to teach your kids to move, engaging in weight-bearing exercise several times a week.

I just thought the comments were trashy and inappropriate, but what do I know? I’m only a woman with a lifetime of self-image issues behind me, as well as a history of anorexia and bulimia. It’s not like I go to a therapist for this sort of thing or anything. I’m sure that the First Lady, with her background in law, definitely knows more about this sort of thing than, say, the registered dieticians I know.

RIP.

I’m still sick, in case you were wondering, but the wheel keeps on turning. (Which only matters to those on the Rim.)

I’m saddened to hear that Jack Murtha has passed on. He was nasty to our marines in Haditha but I make a rule never to wish death upon someone, even if they’re wrong. He had his good points, I’m sure. He was a person, with a family who loved him, and I they will miss him.

RIP, Jack Murtha.

“But Abe Foxman thinks Rush Limbaugh is the problem…”

Great Corner post by Mark Steyn. (Which reminds me that I need to read his weekend column. I’ve been so out of it these last couple of days.)

I know what you think of me, and I am trying to forgive you for it.

It’s hard to understand liberal condescension, seeing it is especially divorced from reality, but Gerard Alexander makes a gallant effort in this piece in WaPo. I’ve given up caring what liberals think of me, (though the libs I know invariably tell me how surprised they are to find out that I am reasonable, intelligent, well-read and not racist I am), but it never ceases to amaze me how arrogant and condescending the left is as a whole.

I won’t say that I’m not a bit irritated when I realize that my president thinks I’m an ignorant, racist, superstitious hillbilly, but I try not to hold onto those things. That kind of bitterness is best left to the professionals, like the Kos Kids. I try very hard to look past someone’s ideological tendencies and never let politics become personal, but I never make the mistake of assuming that I am extended the same courtesy. I will never emulate the shrill irrationality of the hardcore left, because my politics are based on reason, not emotion. I think that all we on the right can do is attempt to rise above the name-calling and the immaturity. Present your case with dispassionate clarity, using reason and facts, and let conservatism speak for itself. I consider myself a “classical liberal”, but that’s called “conservatism” now. Whatever.

[I'm sorry posting is light, but I am still sick. I'm better but I'm tired and my brain has stopped working. Like, literally stopped working. I'm so stupid, I'm almost willing to watch a Michael Moore film and actually believe that it's a "documentary."]

Weather!

I wish I could say that the people in San Diego are much more level-headed, but I’d be lying if I did. For us, it isn’t snow, it’s rain. If the rain is accompanied by thunder and lightning, San Diegans panic and start running into stuff. Being from Arizona (have I mentioned that I’m from Arizona? And that I love it?), I love the rain–from indoors. I really am not all that big on nature touching me, but I’ll watch it all day long. It rains in Arizona, especially in the late summer, but it’s a wholly different kind of rain–a violent, pounding Zeus-is-so-pissed-at-us deluge that rarely lasts longer than a half an hour. In San Diego, we get this nancy-boy mist that can’t decide if it’s rain or fog. I’m babbling, sorry.

Not that long ago, we had four “thunderstorms” (I hardly heard a whisper of thunder, fyi) and everyone ran to Costco to get supplies. And then everyone crashes into each other on the freeway, like the wet stuff from Heaven has addled their mortal brains. It’s truly pathetic. Arizonans do the same thing, but it’s a desert. Rain shouldn’t freak out the coastal folk.

Open Lost thread.

I don’t watch Lost anymore, but a lot of the folks who hang out here do. I’m making this open thread for them. Play nice, kids, and always include sufficient spoiler warnings.

Bon appetit! (I’m too lazy to spellcheck that. My French is terrible.)

Thanks for the update.

When I am sick, like I am this evening, all I want is comfort food. For me, that happens to be Granny Smith apples and crunchy peanut butter. That’s all I ate yesterday and a majority of what I ate today. I chased it all with tiny bottles of Diet Coke.

Also, I am not even hooked on The Vampires Diaries. It’s not like Ian Somerhalder stars in it. (Obviously I’m lying.) I don’t even care about the stupid teeny-bopper storyline (“Oh, I love you! I’m a 200 year old vampire who feels the need to go to high school every generation and I am so deep and misunderstood. You’re the one, baby, the best girl I’ve ever been with in two centuries. Really.”), I just care about Ian Somerhalder looking hot and being the quintessential “bad boy.” Me-ow. Remember, I stopped watching Lost because they killed his character, Boone. The Rules of Attraction was a spectacularly cynical movie, and I loved Somerhalder’s Paul. He’s better than the CW, but I’ll take what I can get.

Told you he didn’t play fair.

McCain is attempting to keep Hayworth off the air.

Just get it over with.

Derb on Defense, Treasury, Justice and Education.

Yes, I suppose that would pose a problem.

There are just no good options when considering the question of American-born terrorists. I mean, I say kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out, but I can see how this would be problematic, from a legal point of view.

‘Don’t be evil’, my ass.

Google and the NSA, so happy together.

The house of life.

Who is your favorite painter? I’ve got two, sort of. Dante Rossetti and Edward Hopper. I say “sort of” because I love all of the Pre-Raphaelites, but Rossetti is my favorite of the movement. I mention Rossetti because I was dredging the backwaters of the ebook universe trying to find free books and I came upon a book of poetry by Rossetti,The House of Life, a very nice surprise. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m probably going to start it this evening. I’m sick with whatever kindergarten cooties the kid brought home, and all I want to do is lay in bed and read.

As for art, Rossetti’s work is simply gorgeous, full of light and beauty and tragedy and love, while Hopper is stark and so lonely but just as beautiful. I adore Hopper’s Automat, with its small lonely girl sitting alone at the table with her coffee. She’s not waiting for anyone, I don’t think, but it’s the end of a long night that has stretched into an early morning and she’s tired. At least that’s what I see. I could go on, but I won’t.

[As I was writing this, I was thinking that maybe I like Millais or Waterhouse as much or better than Rossetti. Millais’ Ophelia is divine.)

Just sayin’.

Watching Megyn Kelly on America Live, I’ve just learned that Cosmo wants Evan Bayh to pose nude for its Senatorial Centerfold, (or whatever they call it). Seriously? No offense to Bayh, but Cosmo should just wait until Marco Rubio gets elected. That might be enough reason for me to break my one-Cosmo-a-year rule. How about a “Scott Brown, 30 years later” piece? That would be awesome.

Obviously, my vote goes to Phoenix.

Phoenix! It’s hot, but we know A/C. And besides, it’s a dry heat. The fifth largest city in the country, Phoenix can easily accomodate the thousands of people a national political convention will draw. It’s an inexpensive place to visit, and it has every cuisine imaginable, as well as wonderful clubs, bars and culture. The AZGOP is headquartered there as well, and they are good, good people. (I’m a little biased, having once been on their payroll, but it’s true!)

Phoenix is where it’s at, people. Honestly, the people are nearly as friendly as Texans. Arizona is beautiful as well; don’t let anyone tell you differently. The sunsets are unlike anything you’ve ever seen, outside of Australia.

With all due respect to the other cities on the list, they don’t even come close to Phoenix.

That’s great, I’m homesick again.

[H/t: Jonah Goldberg, who says very nice things about Phoenix here. This is why he's awesome, people. He's got great taste and is obviously brilliant.]